Abstract
Abstract. It is a common practice in developing countries and in some regions of Europe that solid wastes generated in households (e.g. plastic beverage packaging and other plastic wastes, textile wastes, fibreboards, furniture, tyres, and coloured-paper waste) are burned in wood- or coal-fired stoves during the winter months. In Europe, the types and volume of municipal waste burned in households is virtually unknown because these activities are illegal and not recorded, with the exception of a few media reports or court cases. Even though particulate emissions from illegal waste burning pose a significant hazard to human health due to the combination of excessive emission factors (EFs) and uncontrolled chemical composition, there is scarce information on the specific EFs for PM10 and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the scientific literature. In this work, controlled combustion tests were performed with 12 different types of municipal solid waste, and particulate emissions were measured and collected for chemical analysis. Absolute EFs for PM10 and PAHs as well as the benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) toxicity equivalent of the latter are reported for the first time for the indoor combustion of 12 common types of municipal solid waste that are frequently burned in households worldwide. It was found that the PM10 emission factors from the combustion of wood-based waste samples were about twice that of firewood, whereas EFs in the range of 11–82 mg g−1 (a factor of 5–40 times higher than that of dry firewood under the same conditions) were obtained for different types of plastic waste. The latter were also found to emit exceptionally high quantities of PAHs, by a factor of 50–750 more than upon the combustion of dry firewood under the same conditions. Since the more toxic 4–6 ring PAHs were predominant in the particulate emission from plastic waste burning, BaP equivalent toxicity was up to 4100 times higher than that from wood combustion.
Highlights
Billions of people use solid fuels as the main source of household energy worldwide (Anenberg et al, 2013)
The PM2.5 emission factors (EFs) of wood burning in traditional woodstoves varies between ∼ 2.8 and ∼ 13.3 mg g−1, whereas the PM10 EF from a chimneytype woodstove is smaller (∼ 1.1–2.9 mg g−1, Querol et al, 2016)
The PM10 emission factors, total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission factors and benzo(a)pyrene toxicity equivalent total PAH emission factors were determined for waste burning under controlled combustion conditions for the first time
Summary
Billions of people use solid fuels (wood, coal or agricultural waste) as the main source of household energy worldwide (Anenberg et al, 2013). Karagulian et al (2015) estimated that domestic fuel burning (wood, coal and gas) might contribute up to 32 % of PM2.5 emissions and up to 45 % of PM10 emissions in central and eastern Europe (globally 20 % and 15 %, respectively). Emissions from wood burning were estimated to contribute to about 30 % of the PM2.5 fraction in Portugal (Goncalves et al, 2012). Based on recent studies fine particles from wood combustion may cause severe health effects such as lung cancer, chronic lung and heart diseases (Rafael et al, 2015; Bai et al, 2015); contribute to visibility reduction (Pipal and Satsangi, 2015); and even modify synoptic conditions (Tiwari et al, 2015)
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